Dancing in the Furnace

By Al Ferber

"Al Ferber has created a world: irascible, nasty, haunted by ghosts, and transformed by his loves. shamelessly invites us into his richly textured fantasies to witness his pain, his doubts, and his exuberance for living. Ferber is a master of the ordinary. He remembers streets he played on and neighborhoods of childhood conquests and defeats. Fearlessly shapes poems out of scraps of memory and comes up whole for his efforts. Ferber is an original voice and spins out vivid scenes from a life.” Norman Newberg, the man who lit the kindling.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jan 6, 2021
• ISBN: 9781664150959

Al Ferber

Al Ferber a septuagenerian going on 13. Born. Regrettably… A North Philly kid. Survived education at Temple U., Penn State, Villanova U. Alcoholic 30 years. Sober 23 years. Indenture servant to Catherine the Great 34 years. Learned to love and appreciate cats and one dog. Authored 30 books of poems, 2 novels, 3 chap books. Poems in Magazines in U.S., England, Scotland, France. Still alive, on the downward path of the sliding board, as of this writing. An undocumented alien in the world. Resides Ocean City, NJ surrounded by water with Cathi, Luna, Mitzi, and Opal. So there.

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Copyright © 2021 by Al Ferber.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Cover art by Al Ferber

Rev. date: 01/06/2021

Xlibris

844-714-8691

www.Xlibris.com

823655

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

All poems contained here have appeared in Gnu Gnus

and Mangle / The Apostate. And are reprinted with

permission of Al Ferber, Publisher.

DEDICATION

For Cathi

my wife

love muffin

best friend

patron

and

creator of my

heaven & he

and

Hop Wechsler

biographer editor

advisor

cabal associate

undocumented human

anti-intelligence agent

CONTENTS

Confirmation

The Razor’s Edge

Listen To The Bars

Custom Made Mythologies

The Restauranteur

Christmas Special

Jitterbug Motion

A Preponderance of Evil Shit

Mole

The Eves

Points of Interest

Imparting Wisdom

Short

An Ode To Obvious

Once In A While

In There

Hot Coals

400 Bucks

Gus, Harmon, Buddha, Cupcake, Dog Bowl …

Blind Man

On The Ass End Of Things

St. Louis Paris New York

Great Exploitations

Look

1925 Paris on its head

So To Speak

Pursuit

She Went To Work At Sears

The Madman’s Been Shattered

The Mill The Wheel And The Grind Stone

When The Machine Strikes Back

An Unprovoked Assault

Unentangled

Medieval Pilgrimage

Uninvited

Poker Face

The Lakeside/Pinewood Diving Belles

Bamberger’s

Creative Consultant

Parade Through Empty Town

A Darker Purpose

High School Locker

The Night & The Lights

30 Year Drunk - Installment 392

Breaking News

The Big Sleep

Half Ball Sticks In The Broom Closet

Chunks Segments And Elements

Turn Up The Volume

Something Terribly Wrong

Dead Ears

Purple Curtains

The Botched Nativity Plot

The Dancing Girlies

Gas Mask Rubber Gloves

A Tie In The Woods

How Old The World

Black. No Sugar.

The 8 Minute Poem

Swimming in Loch Ness

For this Holiday Season

When The Music’s Right

Fission

Bad Hat Day

Hush

There I Was

Above The City

It Only Takes A Sound

Head On Collision With The World

Barn Wood Fence

Please. And Thank You. Ma am.

The Security Of Water

The Question Remains

Passing Through The Eye Of The Needle

Castles By The Sea

Stickman Hotel

Rubble Rouser

Open For Debate

Deluge

Oh Baby

Bloody Sunday

Rabbit Hole

Modigliani Nose

The Shark

The Night After Christmas

Nose Diver

Stand Off On The Dance Floor

One Moment

Some Patriot Act

Raison’ Du Jour

Green Cadillac

Through A Fish Eye Lens

Brownshirts

A Life

Well After Sundown

Thank You Ever So Much

A Twisted Piece of Mental

Balance Sheet

Dead End

Prone Position

Poof

Black Water

Journey To The Center

Burnt Match Sticks

Poetry

Pissed Off

Further Into Madness

Hammer It Out

She Fell Down In The Garden

In The Garage

Spillage

Recalcitrant

Afterlife

Lone Wolf

Funeral Masks

Mixing It All Together

Children Of The Fire

A Single Horrific Thought

Fan Letter

Another Fan Letter

A 3rd Fan Letter

Same Fan Different Day

My Response to Fan Letters

The Last Years Of His Life

Extra Strength Lunar Capsules

Her Magnificent Architecture

Ethnic Threads

On the Way

My Favorite Humans

Low Dose Of Me

Found Poem

In the Turret

prodigal son

Hysterical References

Spirits

Fuck Sack

Jump Ball Tactic

Bonnie Bhadelia

Every Man

Lurking In The Shadows

Healthy Brain ?

Stealing

An Ode To Everyone With Eyeballs

Leadership Conference of Unusual Fruits

Dr. Phishook’s Recent Schmooze

Total Lack of Penitence

The Occasional Voyage to the Avenue

Till It Be Morrow

Wine

Boxer Genius Madman

Ta Ra Ra Boom Dee Ay

Brides In The Bath

Social Class

Your Life

Best Girl

Under The Sun

It Is What It Is

The Beautiful Girl

Years, Minutes

The Mole And The Peacock

Oil Spot

Sex & Violins

Mapping History

The Dead Zone

Want

When Things Fall Away

What ?

She Demon

Getting The Word Out

Poets

Romantic Geometry

At Gub Point

Grandma’s Flask

Chain & The Link Fence Scandal

Love’s Dungeon

Patron Saint

The Snow

Mustang

Pagan Holiday

Red Rock

Heavenly Nuisance

A Fitful Madness

Explosive

Contrite

Exiled On Mesa

Receivership

Glass Rose

Looking Glass

Twiggy

CONFIRMATION

when he thinks back

the loneliness

has been there all along

ever since he